If ever there was bipedal disproof of “intelligent design,” George W. Bush is it. So it was only fitting that this poster boy for the monumentally simplistic would become the nation’s leading spokesman for the reintroduction of medieval theo-biology into the classroom.
I write, of course, about the president’s less than surprising endorsement this week of equivalent emphasis on both intelligent design theory and evolutionary facts in our public schools - not as a religio-philosophical inquiry, which it appropriately is, but as a one’s-as-good-as-the-other scientific excursion.
Said Bush to a group of reporters Monday, “I [feel] like both sides ought to be properly taught.” When asked if that meant design theory is an alternative scientific theory, he said “I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. You’re asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes.”
That’s not at all what he was asked. Not even close. In addition, we expose children to Newton’s perfectly ordered physics; we don’t teach it as equally valid to Einstein’s relativity theories or quantum mechanics simply because Newton asserted Godly design and q.m. is, well, messy.
Some say the proposed elevation of intelligent design to evolution’s scientific status is the camel’s nose under the tent. But in keeping with the anthropomorphic metaphor, it’s more like the 800-pound gorilla in the classroom - the fundamentalist and right-wing Christian gorilla.
“Intelligent design does not identify the designer, but critics say the theory is a thinly disguised argument for God and the divine creation of the universe. Invigorated by a recent push by conservatives, the theory has been gaining support in school districts in 20 states, with Kansas in the lead.” Imagine that. Kansas leads.
But it’s not a “thinly” disguised argument by fundamentalists. It’s quite naked. A comment representative of its boldness appeared in a USA Today piece about right-wing Christian activism’s lethal aim at America’s Enlightenment heritage: “We sit back and let it happen,” said a disgruntled religionist. “We need to be more vocal - let God back into places he should be, like in the schools.”
And there was this about Bush’s comments from Southern Baptist chieftain Richard Land: “It’s what I’ve been pushing, it’s what a lot of us have been pushing.” Evolution “is too often taught as fact [and] if you’re going to teach the Darwinian theory as evolution, teach it as theory. And then teach another theory that has the most support among scientists.” (Notice the concluding structure: the “most support among scientists,” not the “support of most scientists.”)
But the manufactured controversy does comport nicely with Mr. Land’s political agenda - the theocratization of America in both the public and private spheres. The Borg Christians won’t pray in peace until everyone, everywhere, behaves and believes precisely as they do. Assimilate or expatriate.
Still, it’s the devil’s electoral pact that Republicans have made with these domestic jihadists that frightens most. Alone, their respective powers are limited; combined, they’re an abusive juggernaut. Fundamentalist arguments for intelligent design in public schools are merely one indication of a willingness to violate all tenets of intellectual honesty, a prerequisite for the arrogant exercise of power. So too with their secular partners.
The recent special election in Ohio’s 2nd congressional district is the latest case in point. In that thick Bush country, GOP candidate Jean Schmidt pulled out only a narrow victory Tuesday over vehemently anti-Bush Democrat Paul Hackett, a Marine officer who had served in Iraq. How did she do it? By lying, that’s how.
“In the final days of the campaign,” reported the NYT, “Ms. Schmidt accused the Hackett campaign of misleading voters by claiming that he would be the first Iraq war veteran to serve in Congress. In fact, the Schmidt campaign said, Representative Mark Steven Kirk, Republican of Illinois, has been serving in the Iraq war as a Navy Reserve officer.
“But in an interview, Mr. Kirk said he had not gone to Iraq for the military, and instead worked one weekend a month in an intelligence unit at the Pentagon.” As though Republican Schmidt didn’t know that about Republican Kirk through the National Republican Campaign Committee that doused her with Republican cash and ran Republican Party ads.
Though despicable, the last-minute tactic was enough to help put Ms. Schmidt over the top. Despicable schmicable, the GOP opines. Anything - anything - to win.
Nor is there a single entry in the book of dirty tricks that right-wing theocrats wouldn’t pull to lord their faith over others’ knowledge, such as unctuously back-dooring their private religion into your child’s public classroom, and on your tax dollar.
Which leaves the honest and ethical at a severe disadvantage.